Personal touch built her office supply business

Dorothy Ann Reeves

The unwritten motto at Reeves Supply, a 40-year-old family-owned business in Orlando, is "customers are family."

For company president Dorothy Ann Reeves, there were no formal titles when she dealt with customers, just first names.

"No one ever called here and asked for Ms. Reeves," said longtime employee Frank Alexander of Orlando. "She never referred to any of our customers by title. They were all on a first-name basis. That's why they cared and loved her so much. She always had that personal touch with them. They knew she was going to solve their problem when they called her."

Reeves, of Orlando, died Monday of complications from lung cancer. She was 72.

Reeves Supply was started in 1974 by her husband, Jack Reeves, who died in 1999. The company began as a supply business for copiers and typewriters.

"The business was started out of the house Mom still lived in on New Hampshire Street in College Park," said her son, Matthew Reeves of Canton, Ga. "They started out with just supplies — paper, toner, correction ribbons and ink ribbons for typewriters. We had pallets of paper and supplies in the back of our house. It was really a family affair. We all pitched in."

After a few years, the Reeveses took on employees and started servicing copiers and typewriters. In the early 1980s, the company also began sales.

"We had an exclusive contract with the Orange County Library System," her son said. "At the Orlando Public Library and all the branches, anyone who went into a library to make copies, those were our machines. We were also one of a few vendors that dealt with the Orange County school system. We worked with the school systems in Seminole, Volusia, Brevard and Osceola as well. We did sales and service for all of them."

After Reeves Supply outgrew its home-business site, it moved to an office on Delridge Street in College Park. In 2006, the company moved to its current location on Forest City Road in Orlando.

Reeves, who always had a hand in company operations, took over as president after her husband's death. She handled the day-to-day operations of the company whose clientele included lawyers, doctors, churches and printing companies.

"She was the face of the company and helped build a wonderful reputation. She was the office manager, receptionist and bookkeeper all rolled into one," Alexander said.

Survivors also include her daughter, Mary Patricia Faulk of Orlando; sisters, Sue White of Powder Springs, Ga., and Jenny Taylor of Bushnell; brother, Billy Green of Marietta, Ga.; and one grandson.